Pamtsho murderer confesses to committing murder under the influence of drugs and alcohol

Family wants justice

13-year-old Sumitra Chhetri, a class 6 student in Dechencholing Higher Secondary School staying in Pamtsho, headed out of her home in the morning of 23 May 2024 at 8.30 am with the aim of going with her class friends to Dechenphu Lhakhang for a group class project on the Lhakhang.

Sumitra was supposed to go and meet up with a school friend who also stays in Pamtsho, and they were supposed to join a few more friends and go together. However, her friend had left a little earlier and so she was alone.

Sumitra never turned up at the Lhakhang to meet her friends there, and she was missing by nightfall.

Her worried family lodged a Missing of Person (MoP) report at 8 pm with the Thimphu police station.

The North Thimphu Police Station mobilized and conducted searches in and around Pamtsho, Dechencholing and along the Pamtsho-Dechencholing highway.

The family had split into three and were also looking for her, and the next day at around 12.37 pm, one of the family members found her body in the forest below the Pamtsho-Dechencholing highway.

The police found that the deceased had multiple injuries on her face and also strangulation marks on the neck. The body had been partially covered with dried pine leaves. The investigation and forensics concluded that it was a homicide case.

The news of the murder shocked Bhutanese and Thimphu residents, especially with the still unsolved case of 9-year-old Dena Koirala in 2019 from the same Dechencholing school.

The investigation team made an all-out effort to retrieve and review private CCTV camera footages installed by residents of Jungshina, Pamtsho, Taba and Dechencholing.

The first breakthrough for the police came when the CCTV camera in the house of a senior RCSC official that was partly pointed to the Pamtsho road captured the lower half of the body of Sumitra identified by her clothes walking on the road.

The same footage also showed a person in dark clothes walking behind her at 9.03 am on 23 May. 

The police then checked the CCTV footage at the Dechencholing gate which showed that neither Sumitra or the suspect exited from the other side.

The suspicion of the police strengthened, and they then backtracked the movement of the suspect through CCTV cameras. Another breakthrough happened when a CCTV camera in the house of a Census official living in the area captured the full body and face of the suspect.

The police using a series of private CCTV cameras backtracked his movement all the way to the main Thimphu town where he was found loitering at around 6 am in the morning. He was found moving to Pamtsho where CCTV cameras captured him around the time of the crime.

It was found that the suspect is a 26-year-old man who resides in the Dechencholing area and works in a shop in town. His census is from Nagor, Silambi in Mongar Dzongkhag.

After identifying the suspect, the police narrowed down his address in Thimphu and met with the uncle that the suspect stayed with. The uncle, in turn, informed the police that the suspect had not come home for a week.

The police then tracked his mobile number and the tower location was found to be in Ramthangkha in Paro.

The Paro police was informed and they arrested the suspect on 30 May 2024 at 8 pm and escorted him to the North Thimphu police station for further investigation.

Upon interrogation, the suspect confessed to committing the murder under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

He had taken marijuana and also alcohol and spent the night at the Thimphu Thromde’s Mega Festival and went to bars and karaokes, not sleeping the whole night.

While examining his body the investigation team found scratch marks on his neck and the suspects clothes were also found to be covered with pine resin.

The suspect in his confession to the police said that he did not particularly target the girl in advance, but as he was walking home along the Pamtsho road he found the victim walking ahead of him.

He quickened his steps and overtook her and waited ahead on a culvert smoking.

The suspect claimed the girl sought his help to get to Dechenphu and wanted to borrow money for taxi fare as she was only carrying Nu 50 and her friends had left her behind.

The suspect had Nu 1,500 on him and he told the police he gave her Nu 500 and walked along with her.

When they reached the place of the crime the suspect grabbed the girl and pulled her below the road for 52 meters and tried to kiss her and touch her private parts and she resisted and scratched him.

The suspect said he punched her hard twice and she got knocked out but she revived again and again fought back hard and screamed at which point he told the police he stuffed her mouth fill of gravel and mud to drown her screams.

13-year-old Sumitra bravely kept fighting back against the suspect’s attempt to rape her, which he could not do due to her resistance, according to the police.

He then proceeded to strangle her and used a large and heavy rock that requires to be carried with both hands to hit her face and forehead.

After killing her, he covered her face in her Kira and hastily covered half the body with pine leaves.

To cover his tracks, he did not head back up to the road but descended down to the river level and went from there.

In the meantime, a police official said that they wanted to thank the residents of Pamtsho and Dechencholing who aided them in this investigation and in getting breakthroughs in this case by allowing access to their private CCTV cameras.

The official said that such cooperation and help rendered by the public can help solve crime cases and combat crime.

Family wants justice

In the meantime, the family of 13-year-old Sumitra Chhetri provided a picture of her to The Bhutanese, and asked for it to be published along with her real name so that it helps to get Sumitra justice and the perpetrator faces the maximum punishment.

The family said even life imprisonment is not enough for the perpetrator.

The victim’s 20-year-old sister said “My sister had skipped dinner, and she even left with an empty stomach at around 8:30 am saying she will have something to eat with her friends. She didn’t even get a chance to eat something because the person brutally murdered my younger sister. Though the day was very auspicious, as it was Lord Buddha’s Parinirvana, where we Buddhists even dare not kill a tiny insect, this man brutally murdered my sister who was on her way to the Lhakhang.”

“He should be made to go through my sister’s struggle by being left without foods for days and he should be stabbed and the wounds should be rubbed with salt and lemon. Even killing him won’t be enough.”

She asked how can a man given birth to by a woman commit such a brutal crime murdering a child who could be his daughter.

Sumitra used the same route and city bus to travel to and fro from her house and school. She was really ambitious and wanted to become a doctor and was studying diligently. Even during the day of the incident, she was carrying books for the project.

She and her sister were staying with their mother and step-father in Pamtsho. Their late biological father had died just 3 months back, and they were still grieving from that loss.

The family said that on the day of the unfortunate incident, she along with her friends were supposed to go to Dechenphu Lhakhang for some school related project, and she left her house at around 8:30 am to go to her friend’s house as the friend had instructed her to reach her home by 9 to 9:20am, however by 8:50 am the friend had already left.

The morning of the incident 13-year-old Sumitra Chhetri, just took Nu 50 saying that her friends have told her that they will buy the snacks and pay the fare. The sister forcefully gave her the Nu 50.

Later at night when she did not return home and went missing, the worried elder sister filed a missing complaint with the RBP and a search was conducted but she was not found.

The victim’s sister shared that the killer had smashed her sister beyond recognition. The clothes were removed and body was found wrapped in Kira and hidden by dry pine leaves, covering half of her body leaving only a partial leg visibility.

The bag filled with books which she took in the morning were found few meters below her dead body.

Barely able to talk and devastated with grief, the sister said, “In the morning, I helped her wear her Kira beautifully, only to find the following day it being wrapped around her head and dead body. It really saddens me.” 

Their 39-year-old mother works in waste drop off center with the Thromde where she has been working for 20 years. The step-father also works with the Thromde. From the step-father’s side they have a 3-year-old half-brother.

The elder sister herself had recently opened a Pan shop and it has been around 3 months.

The sister mentioned that she doubts the pattern of the case is somehow similar to that of the murder of 9-year-old Dena Koirala in 2019 in Dechencholing, as the suspect was still free, the brutal nature of the murder of her sister and the way the body was left behind.

The sister said she is even afraid to stay alone at home or go anywhere alone, as she fears maybe more than one individual is involved in her sister’s murder, and that maybe they might be watching her and her family’s move and may plan to kill them since they reported her sister’s case.

She said that since her sister was tortured and murdered, the murderer must be harshly punished, or in future other such people will also get instigated to commit such crimes thinking even after murdering someone, there is imprisonment and prison food is provided.

Further, she said that there really is a need of CCTV cameras in areas where there are roads surrounded by thick forest as these are high-risk and unsafe areas.

The funeral rites of Sumitra cost around Nu 80,000 which the family had to raise seeking help from other family members. 

There are people who have been enquiring with the paper on how they can help with the funeral expenses.

The sister’s bank account number is 206541797 and the account name is Devi Maya Chhetri.

Update: Devi Maya Chhetri, the sister of the deceased 13-year-old Sumitra Chhetri, said she would like to take this opportunity to thank the people for their moral and financial support.
She said she has received enough for the funeral expenses and rituals to be conducted both in Thimphu and the village.
She now requests the people to stop donating money.